Air conditioning apparatus



Jan. 12, 1943. A. MATHIAS- 2,307,938

' 'AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed May 8, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 1 F!iL J 1 .L

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if v INVENTOR 5 g QM .g ATTORNEY Jan. 12, 1943. A. MATHMS 2,307,938

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed May 8, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORvBY ' ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 12, 1943 UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIRCONDITIONING APPARATUS Arnold Mathias, New Rochelle, N. Y.

Application May 8, 1941, Serial No. 392,427

4 Claims.

My present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus and moreparticularly to a humidifying unit for conditioning air delivered to therooms of a dwelling house or the like through ducts leading from acentral station within the building.

In its underlying concept, my invention is directed to a novel form ofheat exchanger and moisture evolving means which is designed to beinstalled within the housing of an oil burner installation, furnace, orthe like, and over or through which means the air to be conditioned iscaused to pass.

In its preferred construction my invention provides an air moisteningmeans so associated with a heat exchanger as to form an air conditioningapparatus, wherein the air moistening means is of high efficiency,adapted for uniform and automatic operation and such wherein theeffective evaporative area may be readily varied to suit any conditionwhich may be met with in service. More specifically, my invention in itspreferred embodiment comprises a plurality of superposed channeledtroughs of novel construction adapted to hold water to a predetermineddepth therein and having openings in the bottom thereof between thechannels through which the air to be conditioned is caused to pass. Inthe channels of each of said troughs and bridging the openings in thebottom are mounted bibulous blocks or porous bricks of novel formdisposed in checkered relation and with the bricks in the overlyingtroughs in staggered relation to the bricks in the adjacent troughs,whereby to insure dispersion of the air to be conditioned over anextensive evaporative area. The invention will be better understood fromthe detailed description which follows when considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a humidifying unit embodying my inventionwith parts omitted and others broken away to better show theconstruction thereof.

Fig. 2 is a fractional longitudinal section taken substantially alongthe plane of the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken substantially along the plane ofthe line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the constituent elements of an enclosingskirt for the humidifying unit.

Fig. 5 is a perspective View, on an enlarged scale, of one of thebibulous blocks used in my humidifying unit.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of an oil burner in stallation with a part ofthe enclosing wall thereof broken away to show the arrangement of thehumidifying unit therein.

Referring to the drawings, the numerals If), H and [2 indicate aplurality of superposed troughs preferably made of metal, which areadapted to hold water and bibulous blocks for humidifying the air.Preferably each of the troughs H), II and I2 is of rectangular formhaving an enclosing side wall consisting of upstanding side flanges I3and end flanges l3a, the bottom having a plurality of parallel openingsI4 therethrough, which preferably terminate short of the end flangesl3a. Extending obliquely upwardly and inwardly of the openings M fromthe edges of said openings are flanges 15 of a height substantiallyequal to the height of the side flanges l3. The ends of the openings l4adjacent the end flanges l3a of the troughs are also formed withupstanding flanges Hi, the upstanding edges of which are sealed to theends of the flanges l5. The flanges [5 provide parallel channels betweenthe openings 14, and the outermost of said flanges [5 also providechannels with the side flanges I3 of the troughs. These channels attheir ends communicate with transverse channels formed by the endflanges l5 and the end flanges I30. of the trough. All the channels inthe troughs are adapted to hold water to a predetermined depth which isgoverned by overflow pipes [1 preferably located in each end of thetrough I0 and extending through the bottom thereof and overflow pipes I8in each end of the trough H, said overflow pipes at the respective endsof the troughs being out of alignment. Preferably the overflow pipes areof such length that the lower ends thereof will dip into the trough nextbelow the one to which the pipe is afiixed. The troughs Ill and ll arealso provided with supporting legs l9 for maintaining the troughs inpredetermined spaced superposed relation. Water may be introduced intothe channels of the troughs in any preferred manner, and as herein showna pipe 20 leading from a source of water supply extends through thecasing 2| of the oil burner installation to supply water to theuppermost trough In. The lowermost trough I2 is provided with anoverflow pipe 22 which preferably extends laterally from one of theflanges l5 and said pipe 22 may be provided with a coupling 23 forfacilitating connection with a drain pipe (not shown).

For greatly increasing the moisture evolving area and for insuring adispersion of the air in passing through the humidifying unit there ismounted within the channels in the troughs,

blocks 24 formed of bibulous material, for example, porous ceramicbricks. These bricks are preferably of U-shape form with substantiallyparallelly-faced legs 24 and 25 of a thickness to engage between thewalls of a channel and seat on the base thereof and with the inner faceof the connecting bar 26 of the U arched. The reason for this specificconstruction of brick will presently be made apparent.

The bricks are mounted in the troughs in rows with the legs of thebricks engaging within and seating on the bottom of a pair of channelsand with the connecting bar of the bricks bridging the openings in thetroughs which is flanked by said pair of channels. Preferably also, thebricks are arranged in checkered relation within the trough, that is tosay, the bricks bridging a particular opening I4 are mounted inalternate relation to the bricks bridging the adjacent opening with oneleg of the bricks in each of the adjacent rows seating in a commonchannel in substantially abutting relation. It is also desirable thatthe bricks in adjacent overlying troughs be disposed in staggeredrelation with those in the other troughs. Because of this arrangement ofthe bricks, the air in passing up through. the humidifying unit is notonly dispersed into a large number of separate streams but is alsocaused to zig-zag and move under and over the bricks in passing throughthe respective troughs. In so doing it will be appreciated that the airwill absorb a large amount of moisture.

The bibulous bricks in absorbing Water to their capacity will sweat andunder certain conditions the water Will have a tendency to run down thesides of the legs of the bricks or drip from the under surface of theportions of the bricks which bridge the openings and drop into theheated chamber of the oil burner or furnace. By having the underside ofthe bridging portions of the bricks arched, the run-off water from saidsurface is caused to follow the inner surface of the brick and run downthe side legs thereof. And by having the side legs spaced inwardly fromthe upper edges of the channel flanges, the width of the legs of thebricks being narrower than the Width of the channels at their top, saidrun-oif water is constrained to return into the channels.

The humidifying unit consisting of the troughs and bricks may be mountedwithin the casing of an oil burner installation, furnace or the like. inany desired manner. In Fig. 6 I have shown a preferred manner ofmounting the humidifying unit within the casing 2! of an oil burnerinstal lation. This consists in mounting above the heating unit anangle-iron or the like support or framework 21 having extending upwardlytherethrough at the four corners thereof adjustable bolts 28 adapted tosupport the lowermost through 12 in level position so as to insure auniform depth of water in the trough. The trough H in turn is supportedby its legs l9 seating within the trough I2 and the trough I!) in turnis supported in like manner within the trough H. The supporting legs l9are of somewhat greater length than the height of the bricks 24 so as toprovide a space between the upper surfaces of said bricks in a troughand the bottom of the trough next above it.

For constraining the air to be conditioned to pass up through thesuperposed troughs I enclose the troughs in a depending skirt formed ofa pair of sideaprons 29 and a pair of end aprons 39 each of which apronsat its top has a reversely bent flange adapted to hook over the topedges of the enclosing wall of the uppermost trough. To lock the apronsof the skirt together, the side aprons 29 have at their ends outwardlyeX tending flanges 3| which are adapted to interlock with inwardlydirected hook flanges 32 on the ends of the end aprons 30.

In the operation of an installation such as hereinbefore described,water will be supplied at a slow rate of the uppermost trough It] andwill flow to the various channels wherein, after the bibulous blocks 24therein have absorbed water to their capacity, the Water will build upto a predetermined depth in said trough and then overflow through thepipes l1 into the trough ll wherein after the blocks therein haveabsorbed their capacity of water, the channels will fill up and overflowthrough the pipes it! into the trough l2 and after a similar procedureas defined with respect to troughs ID and H, the water will overflowthrough the outlet 22 to a drain pipe. The air to be conditioned may beconveniently blown with the aid of a fan (not shown) up past the heatingunit of the burner or furnace into the confining space provided by thedepending skirt which encompasses the troughs. The air in passingupwardly through the humidifying unit will absorb a quantity of moisturedepending upon the temperature to which the air has been heated and therate at which it is caused to pass through the unit. This same air afterbeing conducted through ducts such as 33 to the various rooms of thehouse may be reheated and again passed through the humidifier until saidair reaches the proper temperature and moisture content desired. Byvarying the rate, that is the volume per minute of air which is causedto pass through the humidifier, or by varying the number of bibulousblocks within the humidifying unit any desired degree of humidiflcationof the air can be obtained.

It will be appreciated that the air conditioning apparatus hereinbeforedescribed although primarily intended for use in hot air heatingsystems, can also be used for cooling and humidifying air in the summertime. This can be readily accomplishedby supplying to the troughspre-cooled or iced water which upon being absorbed by the bibulousblocks will substantially 'cool normally warm summer air when passedthrough the conditioning apparatus.

Accordingly, while I have shown and described a preferred embodiment ofmy invention and the manner in which the same is constructed and may beused, I do not wish to be limited to the details of constructiondisclosed except insofar as constrained by the scope of the appendedclaim is.

What I claim is:

1. In an air conditioning apparatus of the type wherein the air to beconditioned is caused to pass over the surfaces of bibulous material; ahumidifying unit comprising a plurality of superposed troughs havingopenings through their bottoms, channels between said openings adaptedto contain water to a predetermined depth, blocks of bibulous materialhaving portions bridging the openings in the respective troughs andportions extending into and seating on the base of the channels, theblocks in each of the troughs being arranged in checkered relation toeach other and in horizontally staggered relation to the blocks in theadjacent trough and means for supporting the troughs at a greaterdistance apart than the height of the blocks within the troughs.

2. An air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1 wherein means areprovided for supplying water to the channels in the uppermost trough,and each of the troughs above the lowermost trough having overflow meansto the trough next below it.

3. An air conditioning apparatus according to wherein the air to beconditioned is caused to pass over the surfaces of bibulous material; ahumidifying unit comprising a trough having parallel openings throughits bottom, channels having inwardly tapered walls adapted to containwater to a predetermined depth flanking said openings, watercommunicating passages between said channels and rows of blocks ofbibulous material having portions bridging the openings in the troughand portions of less Width than the tops of the channels extending intoand seating on the base of-the channels, the blocks in the adjacent rowsbeing arranged in staggered relation.

ARNOLD MATHIAS.

